How to Make Homemade Air Fresheners

I am always trying to keep the house smelling nice and it is definitely not an easy task. The one place that I would like an ongoing nice scent is the closet, specifically my bedroom closet. It is a walk-in closet that seems to lose the scent that I place inside of it quite quickly. Replacing air fresheners on a regular basis can get quite expensive. So, of course, I wanted to try making my own. The only strange thing that I’m adding is sidewalk chalk for coloring. (The kind that kids use outside on the concrete or driveway). The other two ingredients are typical of what is added together to make an air freshener. If you don’t want to color yours, just leave out the chalk and just go all-natural or try some other type of product to color yours. Leave it to me to try something strange in a homemade item. So, let’s begin.

Before grating chalk, be sure to cover your surface. I am not sure if the chalk will stain the counter top. So, to be safe, I covered my counter top with aluminum foil and put a piece of wax paper on top. Begin grating the chalk or use any other type of substance that you think can be used to color a dry ingredient. I could’ve tried powdered food coloring but I didn’t want to spend much money. When grating, it should come out really fine.

Measurements of ingredients will depend on how large a container you will be using. Therefore, I am not going to give any specific measurements as it is not necessary. It will depend totally upon you. Mix in chalk until the color blends completely.

Add the amount of drops of essential oil that you would like. Of course, this too will depend on how strong the scent you would like. You may want to start off with at least 2 teaspoons of essential oil (or just start shaking the essential oil from the jar) and continue to add essential oil until you get to desired scent. You want to make sure that you can detect the smell of the oil in the baking soda. Stir. It will form little wet balls at first. Just continue to stir and press down the little balls until they blend into the baking soda.

I’m using cheese shakers that I had and an air freshener container that no longer had any scent to it. The great thing about these two types are that they already have holes in the top so you won’t have to make any holes.

For the cheese shakers, I cut out a piece of thick paper to use as a divider when pouring in the baking soda. I also used a large mouth funnel to make it easy to pour into the containers. If the baking soda starts to get stuck in the funnel, use a regular straw to push it through. Just remove the divider when you’re finished and the colors will be nicely lined up beside each other. For the other container, it was much easier to fill because I am putting the colors on top of each other and do not need a divider. Try not to fill up the containers completely. I poured too much in the jar from the old air freshener. The reason for not filling completely to the top is that when the scent starts to fade, you can add additional fragrance drops and shake or stir it up. It will be hard to shake or stir if you don’t leave space at the top. Actually, I can’t wait for the scent to start fading because I’m curious as to what color will form when I shake up these different colors. That’s all it is to making the air freshener….simple as pie!

Comments

Here’s what I dont understand, educate me! If baking soda ‘Absorbs’ odors, it obviously does not differentiate between good and bad scents. So how does it hold on to expensive essential oils for long? Isnt it a waste of EO? I mean, is there a better scent ‘holder’?

Hi Marge! These were containers that I bought before I started making my own air freshener. The container that is in the middle was from an air freshener that contained beads. Saved it to use for later and it came in handy.

I see a lot of great tips that are very helpful!! I wanted to add, you can also use boric acid in your laundry and it helps to clean them. It also is good to clean with. My mom use to use it in our clothes. Now I use it in my laundry. It’s especially good when I have a boy and a girl that see 11 mon and 5 days apart and are both under the age of two!! It really gets their clothes clean like bibs and burp clothes!! Also good with the towels to get out the mildew smell.. Hope this helps. And I’m going to try the air fresher.

Hi Dawn! I don’t have an exact time on how long it lasted but it was at least a month or so. Now, my daughter seems to want to go around dropping additional scents in the one that she has in her room. When she does that, she makes it a must to drop additional drops in the other containers also. It really will depend on how many drops you put in from the beginning.

I have used baking soda for somany things, odor absorbing among them but never thought of adding any scent thank you!
I do however have a odor remover of my own that works great! Not only can this be used to remove odors, but to clean many things and I bet everyone has it in thier home. Vinegar! I had @ boys so you can imagine the odors I have had to deal with, that mystery odor in thier room you can not find? well a glass with vinegar left in the room for 48 Hrs and no smell for a week. then use the vinegarfor cleaning your windows, bathroom, Great for killing mold. Add it to backing soda and it cleans up those tough stains you can not get out on your counter, stove and if you have slow drains, or drain flies place baking soda in each drain, just 1/3 -1/4 cup add vinegar let sit while it bubbles, for half hour runn hot water and it clears it up. If you have flies in the house and want to get rid of them use apple cider vinagar and a drop of Dawn dish detergent. the flies are attracted to the smell of the vinegar and the dawn breaks the surface tension, so they drown!

blackboard/pavement chalk is just calcium sulphate, so Plaster of Paris, or talc, would do and then add food colouring etc. I don’t know the reason for the baking soda but the talc is just to spread the oils out to allow them to evaporate more readily. When they’ve gone, just stir in a few drops more.

I must try this! I love the plug-in type air fresheners, but my husband always has an allergic reaction to them. Thanks for sharing at Throwback Thursday.Alli recently posted…Faithful Friday – Thanksgiving

If you add Orris root to this or potpourri it keeps the scent ….it is crushed or ground root of a certain iris ….works wonders to retain scent in potpourri …i guess it will work in with these ingredients

I’ve been making this fragranced baking soda for a rug/vaccuum freshener (the stuff you sprinkle on your carpets and vaccuum up) for years. For some reason I never thought to use it as a room freshener. Great idea.

If you are worried about humidity, you can add a tablespoon of rice to the mixture. Its not pretty, but it will keep it from hardening. However, once it hardens, you can put in an old stray sock and toss it into your suitcase.

This is great! Love using Baking Soda for any thing and for every thing. My trick is my husband smokes, still. Any ways the smell of an ashtray is horrendous and very hard for me to clean. So years ago I started filling his ashtray with baking soda, already use Baking Soda for so many other things. And it was GREAT! When he puts is cigarette out in the Baking Soda, it snuff s it completely with no ash tray smell or lingering smell in the air, and I can dump the ash tray when full the same. NO SMELL. Win Win. Also fill the ash tray in cars. Works every where. Thank you Joni at being a Mom

Hi Joni! That’s a good tip! You’re so right…baking soda has so many uses. It has become a regular in my wash. Today, I’m actually trying out a homemade powdered laundry detergent. Gonna try and put a twist on it, though.

I hear you about the smoke. BLECK!
My bf smokes in the bathroom sometimes and it is
nasty! I have made the lavender/vanilla air spray, but my sprayer broke. :/ I am making this in a few minutes 🙂
Thank you..

Awesome idea!!
I actually used a bit of salt with the baking soda, and used whole chalk to stir in the color!
I added many different oils, as I have many related to aromatherapy!
This works great in any glass jar with holes in it!
Great idea, but simpler to stir the chalk in, just like in school projects!
You can make any scene this way, like sunset, ocean, and sand…looks nice in a bathroom!

Hi Elaine. You can purchase them from Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, GNC, etc. The Tea Tree and Jojoba Oils are a favorite but the scent will depend upon what you like. You can order them from Amazon which might offer a better price. The only downsize for ordering online is that you won’t be able to smell the scent before buying.

I have lovebirds so I can’t use store bought air fresheners (sprays), and they ALL run out to soon. Fixed income here so, I think this would work great. Does any one know if this would be dangerous to birds?

baking soda is something you shouldn’t feed your birds. Buy natural fragrance oils and it won’t be harmful. None are harmful to smell. For example, mint oil is made from mint plants. Lavender scent is made from lavender plants. Its natural and its ok for both people and birds, but don’t place it anywhere where the birds feel like they should eat it.

Birds are very sensitive to things like perfumes, air fresheners and scented things like that. I think that was where she is concerned about bird safety, not whether they could eat it or not… I think just having the baking soda in the room with the birds would be the best bet, then use the scented mix for rooms where the birds won’t be.

I read a comment some time ago that the baking soda will clog and ruin the motor of your vacuum cleaner. I haven’t tried it for that reason, I could be wrong, but I’m not willing to take that risk. I do hope this is not the case.

i have been using baking soda on my carpet for years. after reading this a while back I started adding lemon essential oil to the baking soda then shake on the carpet and let set a while. then vacuum. in all the years I’ve used it I’ve never had a problem with the vacuum cleaner.

I have done this twice. Two days ago I attempted to use my vacuum and noticed that it was picking up and was throwing the dirt back out. I took it to a vacuum replacement company who told me my motor was clogged. I had never had issue before only thing different was the usage of baking soda.

The gentleman said in his 30+ years of working on vacuums he’s seen numerous motors get clogged due to baking soda or those “carpet freshners” found.
He highly does not recommended using them. I’m now stuck at having to pay $60 to get a new motor.

I’ve been trying to eliminate Chemicals in our house and one of the Biggies is air freshener. But we Need air freshener. Thanks so much for coming up with something that will do the job and not add more toxins to our home!

Very pretty – would make some nice gifts. Thanks for posting. I live in Manhattan with old fashioned radiators and risers. I just put some essential oils right on the pipes and/or light bulbs. Saves me time and smells good, too!

Having more pets in the house I love the idea of prettying up the box into your colorful diy! Hope to see you again soon! Thanks for sharing & linking up! Don’t forget to enter the giveaways! Theresa @ DearCreatives.com (one ends today)Theresa @DearCreatives recently posted…Spring Summer Trends #NaturalBeauty +Tree Hut

That is brilliant I gotta try it myself… I’m crazy about air freshener too. I use to buy a lot of packages at Bed Bath and Beyond to bring them here, I love how they smell, but your tips are much better and cheap !!!
Thanks so much for sharing this at Bewitch Me & Titi! Hope to have you back next Sunday with more awesome shares!

Do you use the paper divider to separate the colors? This sounds like such a great idea, I am pinning it for later I need to make these. I always get coupons for air fresheners and they are always on sale but I never like the flavors that they offer, they just smell to chemically. I am going to try this with some lavender oil!Angela Gilmore recently posted…3 Things that suck about being Vegan

Hi Angela! Yes, I used the paper divider to separate the colors since I was lining them up side by side. Definitely give it a try! When I purchase other scents I’m going to make another batch. Can’t wait….

Wow! Thanks for pinning! I’ve got to check that out. I always appreciate when someone pins something from my site and it continues to get repinned. And definitely let me know how your air fresheners turn out…..

Cool! Looks so simple and inexpensive to make, and the chalk makes it so pretty. I can’t deal with bad odors, and so I’m an air freshener junkie. But you’re right, it gets really expensive after a while. Definitely trying to make this at home soon.